Abstract

Fracture of one or more apparently normal ribs by cough was first described by Graves1 in 1834. Tunis2 found 25 cases in the literature in 1890. Atkinson,3 Seilin,4 Webb and Gilbert,5 and Brewster6 added seven cases. Halliwell,7 Howson,8 and Richardson,9 each reported four such fractures in a single case. The report of Sabbione,10 in Italian, was not read. Oechsli11 found 12 cases in 2,000 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, an incidence of 0.6 per cent. Richardson9 found 20 cases in 1903 patients with tuberculosis. The incidence was 0.8 per cent in incipient, 2 per cent in moderately advanced, 6.5 per cent